how many is to many

I stated a day or two ago that Ive not shot a ton since the pandemic hit due to ammo costs, as well as time.
But even before that, there were things I didnt shoot. And while it's always fun to say 'how many is too many...n+1,' but the fact is, that Ive been pretty happy with what I have for a while. Are there dream guns? Of course, but nothing within justification right now.

But if you have too many safe queens, sell it and buy something that WILL bring you happiness.
 
Derek8404 said:
I used to think you couldn’t have too many and I’ll probably go back to that mindset once we get to someplace where we will be fairly permanently. But loading up your truck with over 30 firearms, 10K rounds of ammo and nearly 50 bottles of bourbon to do a move kind of sucks…..
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Ill gladly come and pickup what you don't want to move.my last move consisted of way more guns,way more ammo and about the same amount of alcohol. Ain't moving again unless wife and I divorce
 
Dan0311 said:
Several months ago, while looking/buying a house here, getting the house there ready to sell, tying up loose ends in my career/cases, a friend reached out to me from a hospital, said he found out the night before that he was dying (stage 4, 9/11 pancreatic cancer) and asked me to sell his guns so his wife could use the money. What I didn't know was that there was almost 100 firearms altogether. Wife in her 70's never handled a gun, daughter had zero interest. This was a massive undertaking but I considered it a mission for a dying hero. Another problem was that he didn't want a rich guy buying up his whole collection - he loved each firearm, could talk 30 minutes about each one, and wanted each to go to an individual who would appreciate that particular gun........whoa. They also offered me 20% of all sales - which, of course, I denied. I told him I'd put a few 'select' guns from his collection aside for them to sell to me for 'a good price'.

He literally had no where else to turn except local gun shops that would have given his wife pennies on the dollar. When it was all said and done, I sold everything, piecemeal. Before he died, he told me and his wife that he was hoping to get $25K for the collection. Several days before he passed, I told him we were at $38K and he was so happy. He told me to take the rest to NC, but obviously I couldn't do that. The final count after ammo sales was just over $55,000. A local gun forum owner allowed me to use his platform to sell most - and was well-compensated against his arguments that he didn't need to be. I also ran a very large indoor/outdoor range so that helped sell many guns too. The guns I put aside for me were given to me by the widow for free - I protested, but have you ever tried to argue with a 73 year old Jewish lady???


Moral of the story - HAVE A PLAN. HAVE A PLAN. HAVE A PLAN. Put it on paper. Make it legal. Make it easy for your survivors and let them get the most out of the hobby you loved so much.

Here's one of my friend's rifles that is now mine. Henry .357 16". He had more than 40 leverguns.

View attachment 416077
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This seems to come up every few months here. I put into bold the most important part of this very good post. You need to have a plan and the people who are going to execute the plan need to know about it and have the information that they need to make it happen. Have a basic inventory with estimated retail values listed. It will help a loved one who is not as knowledgeable.

For me personally my modest collection is as much about the chase as it is about the owning part. The finding the needle in the haystack. Getting a deal. Trying new things and learning so I am not sure I will ever stop buying but there is likely a time where I will stop acquiring to build the collection. The wife shoots but really does not "care" about guns. The rest of the family is similar. Each one will most likely be given an item or 2 before I pass. The rest will get sold over time as I see fit to fund whatever endeavor seems appropriate at the time.

For me at my age the real concern is if I die suddenly in a fiery BMW Car accident. The wife will be left to sort through what is here and will have to get reasonable money for the items. I have outlined a plan for that. There is a plan for the run of the mill common guns and then there is a plan for the higher end stuff. This will allow her to off load the items with little effort on her part. She will pay a bit of a fee to do it but more than likely realize more profit than she would have doing it on her own.

My #1 piece of advice is to plan and if you own higher end rare, collectible stuff find someone who specializes in that type of firearms to sell your when you are gone. They will most likely get you more money that you can get yourself. One of my favorite 1911 smiths recently took a 5 day road trip to pick up a collection of a man who is downsizing. IIRC it was 150+ guns. High end stuff like 12 Korth Revolvers and by Korth Revolver I am not talking about the ones Nighthawk sells. This gunsmith is selling them for his customer for a fee but with his rep and dealer network he is going to be able to move them quickly and get the individual top $$$. Your local shop is most likely not going to be able to do that for you.
 
Derek8404 said:
I used to think you couldn’t have too many and I’ll probably go back to that mindset once we get to someplace where we will be fairly permanently. But loading up your truck with over 30 firearms, 10K rounds of ammo and nearly 50 bottles of bourbon to do a move kind of sucks…..
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Depending on the bourbon, there are several of us here would be happy to help load 30 guns and a couple bottles of bourbon. I’d even date say you wouldn’t even have to touch not the first gun or bullet!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
wvsig said:
This seems to come up every few months here. I put into bold the most important part of this very good post. You need to have a plan and the people who are going to execute the plan need to know about it and have the information that they need to make it happen. Have a basic inventory with estimated retail values listed. It will help a loved one who is not as knowledgeable.

For me personally my modest collection is as much about the chase as it is about the owning part. The finding the needle in the haystack. Getting a deal. Trying new things and learning so I am not sure I will ever stop buying but there is likely a time where I will stop acquiring to build the collection. The wife shoots but really does not "care" about guns. The rest of the family is similar. Each one will most likely be given an item or 2 before I pass. The rest will get sold over time as I see fit to fund whatever endeavor seems appropriate at the time.

For me at my age the real concern is if I die suddenly in a fiery BMW Car accident. The wife will be left to sort through what is here and will have to get reasonable money for the items. I have outlined a plan for that. There is a plan for the run of the mill common guns and then there is a plan for the higher end stuff. This will allow her to off load the items with little effort on her part. She will pay a bit of a fee to do it but more than likely realize more profit than she would have doing it on her own.

My #1 piece of advice is to plan and if you own higher end rare, collectible stuff find someone who specializes in that type of firearms to sell your when you are gone. They will most likely get you more money that you can get yourself. One of my favorite 1911 smiths recently took a 5 day road trip to pick up a collection of a man who is downsizing. IIRC it was 150+ guns. High end stuff like 12 Korth Revolvers and by Korth Revolver I am not talking about the ones Nighthawk sells. This gunsmith is selling them for his customer for a fee but with his rep and dealer network he is going to be able to move them quickly and get the individual top $$$. Your local shop is most likely not going to be able to do that for you.
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I've been in this mode for last several years. I'm moved out a lot of the high end stuff and given some to my boys and nephews so they can enjoy them now and not (hopefully for me) 20 years from now when I "shuffle off this mortal coil". Other arms that I plan to keep shooting for awhile are on the 'who wants these?' list for my kids and nieces and nephews. Whatever is left my son will organize to sell. Fortunately for me, forum members have been helpful in purchasing what I've put up for sale and been willing to pay a fair price for the firearms and ammo. Now if I could just get relatives and friends to stop giving me more guns! 😄
 
YMMV. Some people like collecting large amounts of (thing). They say he who has the most toys wins. Some people just have what they feel they need. They say he who has the most efficient way of achieving personal satisfaction wins. Only you can decide which one you want to be.
 
Gnash.Hyena said:
YMMV. Some people like collecting large amounts of (thing). They say he who has the most toys wins. Some people just have what they feel they need. They say he who has the most efficient way of achieving personal satisfaction wins. Only you can decide which one you want to be.
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REELDOC said:
The only reasonable plan I can come up with is to shoot everything I've got (except one safe queen) and the ones that don't give me a tingly feeling that runs up my leg are gonna go away.
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I’m glad that Remington LT20 didn’t give you a tingly feeling. And if you happen to have another one that’s not tingling at you let me know. I need one more for my other daughter haha
 
I have duplicates of many guns because I thought my daughters might get into it, but they have only passing interest. Might offload some before I move.

@BigWaylon I have seperate trusts for each NFA item, but for folks that do not, having each item go to a separate trust upon a person’s passing makes a lot of sense to me.
 
My wife's only problem would be refereeing the fight over who gets what. Both my kids and their spouses like to shoot and the grands also...
 
Without ammo, yer guns are useless and can only be an investment and nuthin' else... jus' sayin'!


Pardon me fer bein' argumentative... off to get more coffee now!
 
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I said I would never buy another round of ammo two years ago but I’m not so sure seeing prices of everything going up. I don’t do competitions so ammo worries hasn’t been a concern for years. But who knows what is coming with the Chinese buying our food suppliers, farms, and controlling the hard goods market. It would be a long period to again establish production plants.
 
A few clever moves by folks with resources could seriously impact ammo availability for good. We've already seen it done during the B. Hussein O. days.
 
My best friend's dad was a co-owner in a gun shop (Colonial Guns, Hillsborough). He sold off his half and part of the deal was he got a number of the guns in inventory, which are now in my friend's possession (his dad died several years ago). HK91, HK93, Colts, Rugers, a large volume. He will sell them off here and there when/if he has a need.

My buddy already has his own, sizeable collection, so all of his dad's guns are gravy, merely money waiting to be collected. It's nice when you don't have an emotional attachment.
 
MacEntyre said:
Wall, if'n ya can't have enough P7s, I better keep both of 'em.

But I was thankin' @Jeppo would trade me about 50K rounds for one of 'em... ;)
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Yeah, can't blame me for trying. I have a 'few' P7's, but always looking for more. They will always make 9mm ammo, but we'll never see any more P7's......
 
My "needs" as far as firearms go, were met long ago. 99% of my collection consists of guns I wanted.

How many is too many? Does it bring you happiness? Or do you look at it as more of a burden? Would you miss it if it was gone? Would you rather have the money or something else instead?

I'd say you have "too many" when you stop enjoying a gun and it becomes a hunk of metal that just takes up space in the safe. Personally, I don't have a need for expensive, oversized paperweights.
 
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